Hearts v Hamilton: Match preview and probable line-ups

That victory was the 3-0 win over Motherwell and since then, the distraction of the two Edinburgh derbies in the Scottish Cup has proved detrimental to their league form. Esmael Goncalves scored two goals at Fir Park that day, but the Jambos have only managed two as a team in all five games since. Hamilton, meanwhile, will arrive at Tynecastle off the back of their 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter final.

The last time the two sides met was a 3-3 draw at New Douglas Park when an 86th-minute Callum Paterson goal rescued a point for the Jambos after being 3-1 down with 20 minutes to play. Hamilton’s goalscorers that day, Rakish Bingham and Ali Crawford, are both available for Saturday’s match at Tynecastle, but Accies boss Martin Canning is not without his injury problems. Defenders Jesus Garcia Tena (knee), Shaun Want (ankle), midfielders Darren Lyon (hip), Louis Longridge (foot), and forward Alexandre D’Acol (ankle) are all unavailable.

Ian Cathro is without defenders Paterson (knee) and John Souttar (Achilles), while veteran centre-back Aaron Hughes is a doubt due to calf knock. This could lead to Cathro pairing Tasos Avlonitis with Krystian Nowak at centre-back for only the second time despite the same line-up struggling in the 1-0 loss against Ross County a week and a half ago.

Probable Hearts XI (4-4-2): Hamilton; Struna, Nowak, Avlonitis, Sowah; Djoum, Cowie, Tziolis, Walker; Johnsen, Goncalves. Subs from: Noring, Smith, Rherras, Oshaniwa, Martin, Kitchen, Buaben, Choulay, Nicholson, Bikey, Currie.

Probable Hamilton XI (3-5-2): Matthews; Sarris, Devlin, McMann; Skondras, Gillespie, Donati, Redmond, Imrie; Crawford, Bingham. Subs from: Woods, Adams, Gogic, Watson, Brophy, Docherty, Kurtaj, Cunningham.

Referee: Craig Thomson.

Where and when: Tynecastle, Saturday March 11, kick-off 3pm.